Today was a gorgeous day, blues skies and in the 80s. This was only made possible by the torrential downpour that was visited upon us last night. We were eating dinner when it started and tried to wait out the storm in the restaurant, but to no avail. So we trudged home in the rain, after one of more memorable meals.
So far, when Ben, Martin, and I have gone to Chinese restaurants, we have been fairly lucky with ordering. Most menus in Beijing, it seems, have photos of their various dishes, so we simply flip through, looking at the various photos, and picking the ones that look tasty. Occasionally, however, there are no pictures. In that case, we rely on my Mandarin and various phone dictionaries, along with asking the server what they recommend or the like. This has served us pretty well.
Last night, we went down the 胡同/hu2tong4 (alley) opposite the apartment we just moved into, looking for a Yunnan restaurant that had been recommended to us. Once inside, we ordered ourselves some food from the photo menu and turned our attention to a second menu which consisted of various 烧烤/shao1kao3 (barbecue) items. There were no photos to accompany these, so we looked through the menu, noticed some items featured 羊/yang2 (goat/sheep), and decided to give them a try. We pointed to one of them, only to have our waitress ask us if we were sure we wanted it. Used to being asked this question, as everyone seems to doubt our ability to eat spicy food, we persisted, and asked her what kind of meat it was. At this point, our waitress started to speak, stopped, and began giggling hysterically. She then walked away from the table, started talking to the various other servers and staff of the restaurant, laughing all the while. After a bit of this, with the three of us looking at each other in confusion, she brought a young man by the name of Tim over. He had gone to the University of Delaware for university, was about to head back to finish his last semester, and was apparently the English speaker for the restaurant.
Tim explained to us that the dish we were attempting to order was, in fact, goat penis, a dish that he had never tried before. Ben was a little put off by the possibility of eating goat penis, but Martin and I persevered, on the condition that Tim also have a bit if we ordered it. He agreed, and so I present to you: goat penis.
Sorry for the poor quality of the photos. The penis is on the far right, not particularly impressive, accompanied by chicken hearts, kidneys, and skin. It is not clear to me whether the morsels you see are one penis cut into slivers, multiple penises (though they'd be awfully tiny....), or something else. They were not particularly exciting, fairly chewy and with a flavor largely determined by the spices it was cooked in. Granted, they were delicious spices, with lots of cumin, but I can't say I'm likely to order penis again.
Strangest thing I've eaten so far, definitely. Though I am heading to Guangzhou soon, and the saying about people from Guangdong province goes: "They eat everything that flies except for airplanes, everything with four legs except for tables, and everything with two legs except for people." So perhaps goat penis's title will not last the year...
Oddly enough, tonight for dinner I went out to a swanky steak restaurant with Martin and two of the Luce Scholars from last year who are still in Beijing. Very fancy cocktails, large rare steaks and the like make a very odd counterpoint to the goat penis of yesterday.
So far, when Ben, Martin, and I have gone to Chinese restaurants, we have been fairly lucky with ordering. Most menus in Beijing, it seems, have photos of their various dishes, so we simply flip through, looking at the various photos, and picking the ones that look tasty. Occasionally, however, there are no pictures. In that case, we rely on my Mandarin and various phone dictionaries, along with asking the server what they recommend or the like. This has served us pretty well.
Last night, we went down the 胡同/hu2tong4 (alley) opposite the apartment we just moved into, looking for a Yunnan restaurant that had been recommended to us. Once inside, we ordered ourselves some food from the photo menu and turned our attention to a second menu which consisted of various 烧烤/shao1kao3 (barbecue) items. There were no photos to accompany these, so we looked through the menu, noticed some items featured 羊/yang2 (goat/sheep), and decided to give them a try. We pointed to one of them, only to have our waitress ask us if we were sure we wanted it. Used to being asked this question, as everyone seems to doubt our ability to eat spicy food, we persisted, and asked her what kind of meat it was. At this point, our waitress started to speak, stopped, and began giggling hysterically. She then walked away from the table, started talking to the various other servers and staff of the restaurant, laughing all the while. After a bit of this, with the three of us looking at each other in confusion, she brought a young man by the name of Tim over. He had gone to the University of Delaware for university, was about to head back to finish his last semester, and was apparently the English speaker for the restaurant.
Tim explained to us that the dish we were attempting to order was, in fact, goat penis, a dish that he had never tried before. Ben was a little put off by the possibility of eating goat penis, but Martin and I persevered, on the condition that Tim also have a bit if we ordered it. He agreed, and so I present to you: goat penis.
Strangest thing I've eaten so far, definitely. Though I am heading to Guangzhou soon, and the saying about people from Guangdong province goes: "They eat everything that flies except for airplanes, everything with four legs except for tables, and everything with two legs except for people." So perhaps goat penis's title will not last the year...
Oddly enough, tonight for dinner I went out to a swanky steak restaurant with Martin and two of the Luce Scholars from last year who are still in Beijing. Very fancy cocktails, large rare steaks and the like make a very odd counterpoint to the goat penis of yesterday.
This post is exactly what I wanted from your blog hahaha
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